Dancing on Water
by Kendra Rainshadow
Summary: An invisible girl who only feels alive when ice skating is given a second chance when she dies and is reborn into an orphanage in the Naruto world. Watch her as she struggles to be a ninja and make friends with the kids at the Acadamy.
1. Chapter 1

(A/N)Hi everyone. This is my first time writing fanfiction, so please, bear with me. I'm going to make a lot of goof ups, so could you kinda ignore them while I try to learn how to update? Thanks. Roll the clip!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I wish I did, but I don't.

* * *

Prologue

I am invisible. I always have been. I was shy as a child, and with an older sister who was far superior to me in every way and had no prejudice against saying so, I wasn't very confident. I guess I could have made friends if I didn't stay in the shadows all the time. Of course, there was really only one shadow that I stayed in, and no matter what I tried I couldn't leave it. That was my sister's shadow, stretching out from her perfect body with lustrous hair and a beautiful face. I could never compare to her reddish-brunette hair that turned pure gold in the sunlight for no reason. Her perfectly wide, long-lashed brown eyes, the exact color of melting chocolate. How could I compete with my dirt-brown hair that stayed the same color no matter the lighting. My colorless eyes that matched my hair and that my sister said looked dead. I was nothing compared to her. And I was reminded of this every single day of my life, by anyone who would bother to talk to me. I would go to school and get straight As in my honors classes; she would get 110s on every paper in her college level classes, even though she was only a sophomore, and a year older than me. I would try out for a sport; she'd become the captain and star player. She would beat me at everything and make me miserable by bragging about it. The worst part is that she _knew_ what she was doing to me, knew that she made me feel like a defective clone that needed to be trashed. I hated it, and hated her for it. And after a while, I hated myself too.

Eventually, I just stopped feeling anything, including hatred. I think I stopped caring when I overheard my parents debating on whether or not to send me to an orphanage and pretend they had found me on the streets. My life was miserable.

The only thing that kept me from ending myself was my pond. You see, there was one advantage to being invisible. No one noticed (or cared) if you went missing for hours on end. Whenever I felt myself breaking down, like I was about to snap and hurt myself, I would go to my pond. It was a little less than a mile behind our house, in the middle of the woods that came with the house. In the spring, summer, and fall I would swim around and around and around. It was a lovely pond, with clear waters, smooth and sandy bottoms, and tiny, colorful fish that were harmless. Fifteen feet deep and fresh water, it made feel as though I was weightless when I dove in. Like I had nothing holding me down and I could stay there forever. I could dive in and open my eyes to a whole other world. And, for a few hours each week, I could forget about my sister, my parents, school, pleasing everyone, and just trying to prove I existed. My pond was mine, and mine alone. My sister was afraid of water, and our parents never pushed her to try to get past it. My pond was my little world, and I loved swimming in it. But I loved skating even more. Winter was my favorite season, as it brought with it the snow, the cold, the clouds and, most importantly, the ice.

I worked at the local hospital for five months, cleaning bedpans, sorting paperwork, cheering up the child patients and anything else they could find for a 6 year old to do. My aunt worked at the hospital and allowed me to stay at the hospital and work. I think my parents paid her double what she paid me in order to keep me there and out of their sight.

After I bought my skates I tried ice skating. I failed. Badly. I hit the ice so hard it cracked like cold glass. I was too afraid to go on my pond again in the thoughts that if I fell no one would come to save me. After a week I braved the cold and tried again. After a month or two I got the hang of it.

Skating was...amazing. If swimming underwater was floating, then ice skating was flying. I would skate around the pond in my own little solo, dancing to music only I could hear. I felt so free, with the wind blowing back my hair. I felt beautiful, and confident, and like I could do anything. Like I could take off at any moment and fly into the sun, leaving behind my miserable life. But then every night I would have to go home, and wait for my next visit to my pond. Except for my last time at the pond. After that, I never saw it again.

I was skating around, singing and jumping and twisting and spinning like I always did. The cold wind blew harshly against my nose and cheeks, cracking my lips and turning my cheeks pink. I was singing with all my heart, pouring all my emotions into my song so I wouldn't have to experience them. I was so busy extorting all of my emotions that I didn't realize that the ice had cracked until it shuddered beneath me. I looked down slowly, taking in the shattered window below me. I knew I wouldn't survive; I was in the middle of a cracking pond that's water temperature was cold enough to freeze a buffalo solid. I turned my head to the sky and thought _if I have to go, can you send me someplace where I won't be so sad? _With those thoughts in mind, the ice shattered, plunging me into its cold, unforgiving depths.


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N) Sup everyone! And no, I'm not dead, I started high school. Same thing basically. Just kidding, but I'm REALLY sorry for updating a week later than I wanted to. I tried getting a beta, but she bailed. Then I tried my back-up beta. She never replied. I seem to have really bad luck with betas, so I'll just not use one. Sorry of I make mistakes but hey, it's my first time. I'm bound to eventually succeed. Eventually. Roll the clip!

Disclaimer: I wished upon a shooting star last night, but my wish hasn't come true yet. So...no Naruto for me.

* * *

CHAPTER 1

Cold. That was the first thing I noticed. It was cold, but dry. I opened my eyes, only to shut them tightly as a bright light shone into them.

_Maybe I'm in the hospital?_ I thought, trying to lift my hands up to rub my face. My eyes flew open as I panicked. I couldn't move my arms! Or my legs! I opened my mouth to cry out and startled myself as an actual cry came out.

_Funny,_ I thought, _that sounded too high pitched to be mine._ I wrinkled my forehead as I slowly opened my eyes again. Blinking rapidly, I tried getting rid of the spots and blurriness. I blinked even harder, starting to freak out slightly as my vision refused to clear up. Suddenly, I felt someone pick me up. I knew that I was less than 100 pounds, but I'm 14; I shouldn't be able to be picked up that easily. I started to full out panic. Whenever I panic I tend to let my thoughts run rampant, which is what happened now.

_Okay calm down you just can't move any of your limbs or see correctly. Nothing to worry about. Oh who am I kidding! There's a lot to worry about! Maybe I got frostbite when I fell in the lake and they had to chop my arms and legs off!_ In my state of panic I began flailing around, surprised when my arm hit against a hard surface.

_Okay I still have my arms and legs they're just...shorter?_ I clenched a fist, then cried out in confusion. If I had all my limbs intact, then why was I so light and small?

About six and a half months later my answer came to me in the form of an old friend; water. There was a leak in the roof and it had pooled into a puddle not a foot from where I slept. For some reason I couldn't stand up straight, so I was forced to crawl over. I wanted to know what was going on, and since I felt so light and still couldn't see all that well, (everything was colorful blurs for some reason), I wanted to see what had happened to me.

I made my way over to the puddle, only to fall over in shock over what I had seen. It was me, only...not me. My dirt-colored hair had shrunk into my skull until it was just a few wispy curls that reached my shoulders instead of mid-back, and had turned a light shade of whitish-blue. And my eyes! They were a sharp golden color instead of dirty brown! But most unsettling was my age. I was a baby! Suddenly it all made sense. Why my arms and legs were so small, why I couldn't talk, and why everything was blurry but I hadn't seemed to suffer any brain damage. I was a baby! Around 6-7 months old from what I remembered in science class about the age babies had hair this long and could crawl. As I looked down into the puddle I could only think of one thing; I don't know how to swim.

The next few months were interesting, to say the least. I was still a 14 year old girl, even though I was in a few-month old baby. I "pretended" to learn to crawl at the same time as the other babies, but I wasn't satisfied with that. I began to try to walk, using random objects such as chair legs or toys scattered on the floor to keep my balance. But I shied away from any help.

Whenever one of the orphanage directors (it had to be an orphanage, there were too many children living in one place) tried to help me walk I panicked. I would crawl or try to walk away as fast as possible, letting little cries of fear out each time. Now, I knew they wouldn't hurt me, but there was just something...off about this place and the people in it. For example, the blurs of color never went away even after my eyes became fully developed.

The blurs actually stayed on the directors, making it seem as though they were wrapped in a weak, shimmering light. It was a pale pinkish peach color, blending in with their skin tone yet still somehow separate. It was like they had a second skin made of light on top of the first one, but none of them were aware of it. I tried asking what it was one time when I was two, in halting, stumbling sentences. I didn't know where I was but I didn't want to be labeled as "special". I made sure that I "developed" at the same speed as the children in the orphanage. When I asked the lady who took care of me what the "pink color around her was" she just laughed and patted my head, then ignored me while walking away, smiling.

She woke up the next morning with all of her hair cut off. I refused to be ignored again, even if it meant getting in trouble. I didn't fully trust the people here, but they didn't seem to know about their lights so I just ignored it. Until my third birthday, when it became impossible to overlook. That, was when I met Naruto.

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(A/N) Hi again. I've decided to do a little something that my favorite Naruto author always does; Question and Answer. I didn't come up with this; the amazingly amazing Darkpetal16 has used it. She's an awesome writer, so you should go read her stories. You won't be disappointed. Anyways, here's my question.

(Q). What was the first Naruto fanfiction you ever read? And if you can't remember, then what's your favorite of all time?


	3. Chapter 3

(A/N) Hiya folks! Since I felt really guilty about not updating last Saturday, I decided to double-post! Aren't you lucky? Anyway, I'm going to try to update every weekend, but I MIGHT start posting twice a week in a few months, after I get the hang of high school and all the homework they give us. Yuck. So...yeah. Have fun reading the chapter. Oh, and my OC DOES NOT know about Naruto being an anime, so she doesn't "see the future", although I was tempted to make her love it. But I really didn't want a Mary-Sue running around. ~shudders~ That would give me nightmares. Roll the clip!

Disclaimer: They should really label wishing stars as defective. It's been an hour and I still don't own Naruto. ~Sigh~ I'm gonna go find a wishing well...laters.

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CHAPTER 2

Besides swimming and skating, music and writing were my whole world. Because of this, I had an advanced vocabulary for my age before I died, so I was proud to say that I was fairly competent at describing people I had just met. I was disappointed at myself when I could only think of a single word to describe Naruto.

Naruto was, in a word, bright. He was a gigantic ball of golden sunshine, and I'm not talking about his ever-present smile and gold hair. I'm talking about the BRIGHT gold light that shined from him. It was exactly like the "second skin" I had seen on the directors from the orphanage. Only brighter. And gold. And blinding. I wasn't quite used to the CLSs (Colorful Lighted Skins) and so I might have made the worst first impression in the world.

"Hi! My name is Naruto! What's yours?" I stared at the little 3 year old boy for a second, before screaming as loud as I could. Naruto lurched back, hurt and confusion written on his innocent face. I dropped to my knees, covering my eyes with my hands and crying out "Bright! Bright!"

The orphanage directors ran over and separated us, two of them roughly pulling away Naruto and the last staying behind to comfort me.

"It's all right now, the demon is gone. I know he feels bad, but don't worry; we won't let him hurt you." I looked up in confusion.

"But he felt friendly. He was just too bright." I said, my eyes wide and confused. The lady laughed and went to pat my head, then pulled back, remembering what happened the last time.

"It's all right to be scared sweetie, no one likes him." She tried to reach for me, only for me to scrabble backwards out of her reach. _Why is she calling him a demon?! He's just a kid!_ I got up on my little 3 year old legs and ran as fast as I could. I started looking for the boy whose feelings I had hurt when it occurred to me to stop looking for him, and start looking for his light.

After all, it was easier to see a beacon of light than a young boy. Remembering how I had learned to control my ability to see CLSs (except in close proximity), I closed my eyes and pictured the light I had seen around Naruto. I opened my eyes and gasped.

There were so many colors! Red and blue and green and white! I looked around me at the busy street. Around half of them had a peach CLS, and the rest had either red, blue, green or white. I crinkled my brow, wondering why there were no other golds like Naruto when I saw it. A huge ball of light, like the sun had fallen to the ground.

_That HAS to be Naruto._ I thought to myself, weaving and ducking my way through the crowd to reach him. I ran out of the crowd and onto an empty training ground. Well, empty except for Naruto and I. I saw him sitting up in a tree, sniffing and wiping his nose on his sleeve. I froze, unsure of what to say. I had never had any friends before because of my sister, so while I was a friendly person, I was used to being alone and was more reserved than the other children at the orphanage, resulting in my new-founded anti-social issues. I tugged on a strand of my hair before squaring my shoulders. I wasn't going to be afraid of a 3 year old!

"H-hi." I inwardly cursed myself for stuttering as I squinted up between the branches of the tree. Naruto started, falling off his tree branch. He landed on his back right in front of me, a loud OOMPH! sounding from where the air had exited his lungs. I hurried over to him, shielding my eyes with my hand.

"S-sorry. I didn't mean to scare y-you." I winced as he looked up at me with watery eyes.

"It's okay about earlier. Everyone's like that." Naruto said sadly, looking back at the ground. I hesitated for a second; if everyone hated him and I became friends with him, then that would drive away ant potential friends I could have. I opened my mouth to say that I had to leave when I saw something that made me freeze. A tear. More specifically, Naruto's tear that had leaked out of his tightly shut eyes and dropped onto his clenched fists.

Suddenly, instead of a crying blonde boy there flashed a crying brown-haired girl in his place. My mind reeled as I looked at the scene before me. _That's...that's me. Before I began to hide my emotions by bottling them up until I could go to the pond and swim or skate. Before I listened to music and began to sing while I skated. Before I came here._ As I looked at Naruto, I saw a child waiting for just another person to ignore him, to treat him meanly for no other reason except that he was born.

Repulsion swelled up in my chest. Repulsion at everyone who treated Naruto like that, which must be everyone I realized, if what the orphanage instructor had said was anything to go by. I fisted my hands and nodded my head sharply. Making my decision, I took a deep breath and plopped down next to Naruto. He looked at me, startled that I hadn't left.

"Sorry about earlier. You're just brighter than what I'm used to." I explained. Naruto asked hesitantly, like he was afraid I was messing with him.

"What do you mean by brighter?" I grinned at him and explained about the different colors and brightness.

"So bright is...good?" Naruto asked me. We were sitting back-to-back under the tree I had found him in. I turned my head to look at him and he did the same. "Bright is the best." I grinned, matching his perfectly. I felt my heart begin to start mending as I looked at the child who shared my pain, even if he didn't know it. _Maybe this life is my second chance. Well, I'm not going to waste it._

"C'mon Naruto," I said out loud, climbing to my feet. "Let's go get something to eat." I held my hand out to Naruto, who was still sitting on the ground. He grabbed my hand and I pulled him up, his momentum swinging him past me and whipping me around. I looked him in the eyes, and then we both smiled simultaneously. Releasing our clasped hands, we swung them back then forwards, slapping each other's hands in the middle.

"Secret handshake?" I asked, grinning at Naruto.

"Secret handshake." He agreed. He grabbed my hand and started hauling me along after him, babbling on about a new restaurant he had found called Ichiraku's. Naruto came to an abrupt stop, and then turned towards me with a sheepish look on his face.

"Eto...what's your name again?" He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. I grinned at him.

"Kore. My name's Kore."

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(A/N) Kori means ice in Japanese, but the way it was spelled reminded me too much of Starfire from Teen Titans. Hopefully Kore still means ice. Remember how I said I wanted Kore to see the future but not be a Mary-Sue? Well instead of making her psychic, which is so cool, I made her able to see people's nature affinity and their chakra levels. It'll develop in time, and she'll learn how to use it better so that she can see almost exactly what people's abilities are (ex. Haku-ice, Yamato-wood, Sai-ink drawings, ect.). Right now though she's just going to focus on being Naruto's friend and not furthering her ability. No worries, she'll have a run-in with a certain ninja that will encourage her very loudly to join the Acadamy.

(A.) My first Naruto fanfiction was Sakura, by Darkpetal16, way back when there were only 10 or so chapters. It's hilarious, and made me fall in love with OC stories. Now, I'm afraid almost every idea I have contains an OC or two.

(Q.) If you could die and become any Naruto character you wanted, who would it be and why?


	4. Chapter 4

(A/N) Uh...hi? Please don't kill me! In my defense, last weekend I had a 28 hour sleepover, and this weekend was Homecoming. And I always have so much homework during the week that since I also have volleyball practice, I don't have time to update. If it makes you feel better, I'm slowly making my chapters longer. By the time the actual timeline starts I hope to have chapters that are two or three times longer. I have maybe...two? three? chapters left before the actual timeline. And that's not including the one-shots I'm planning on doing where Naruto and Kore meet the rest of Konoha 9. Please don't be mad, I'll try to update at least once a week like I promised. Roll the clip!

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, do you really think I'd be writing fanfictions about it? then again...

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CHAPTER 3

About two weeks after I met Naruto I had an encounter with one of the most...interesting people that I have ever met. I think that meeting Might Guy was the best experience of my life. Best, because he inspired me, and in turn, Naruto, to become ninjas. Ignoring all of his quirks, Guy Sensei (as I call him) is one of the best ninjas I know.

When we first met he showed me the coolest ninja trick ever. I was walking around in the forest after I had gotten lost again. Right as I was about to climb a tree to see if I could spot the orphanage, I heard a loud voice counting. Tiptoeing quietly, I snuck over to where the noise was coming from, and hid behind a tree. Peering out from behind it, I saw the weirdest person I had ever laid eyes on. He was about 18 years old, and seemed to be doing push-ups...on the water. I gaped at him for a while, completely overwhelmed by the water walking (sort of).

You see, even though I could see chakra, and was best friends with Naruto, I still had no idea that this world had ninjas. To be quite honest I thought I was in my own world, only as a three year old. I'd never even heard of Naruto being an anime, so it came as quite a shock to see a teenager doing push-ups _on the water_. And of course, there was the ever-present CLS around him. The only weird thing was that I couldn't see it very well.

If I squinted and turned my head, then I could see it fine, but other than that... Now, don't get me wrong, the guy's CLS was both green and bright, but it was just...weak. It was strong but weak, if that makes any sense. Like it was strong but it wasn't used much.

"Hello there! Have you come to train too?!" I jumped about a foot in the air and squeaked as a loud voice bellowed from behind me. I turned around to see the teenager from the lake standing behind me. He had on green spandex and the brightest smile I had ever seen. It even sparkled!

Dazed from the unexpectedness of it all, I sat down with a THUMP onto the dirt.

"Oh no! Are you alright, little lotus blossom of youth?!" He cried, swooping down frantically.

"Y-yes." I stuttered, scooting back on my but in an effort to back away from him. He didn't seem to notice as he kept walking towards me, babbling on about youth, lotus blossoms, and flames. I slowly stood to my feet, backing away warily, like one would a weird and rabid creature. I backed away farther and farther until I tripped. Over my feet. Into the pond. Splash! The guy looked at me, and then ran over to help me. On top of the water, once again.

"How do you do that!" I blurted out, clapping both my hands over my mouth immediately afterwards. The guy laughed.

"I channel chakra into my feet! It is a very youthful exercise I learned was I was but a child, and helps me to feel youthful when I use it!" I stared up at him with wide, confused eyes.

"What's chakra? And who are you?" I asked curiously, laying down on my back and slowly kicking away. I wanted to see if I could still swim even though I was three.

"I am Might Guy! But you may just call me Guy! And chakra is the energy ninjas use to perform jutsus!" Guy cried, doing one handed push-ups on the water beside my head. "What are ninjas?" I asked, before holding my breath and flipping over in the water. In I dove, kicking my legs so I could get deep enough to see the bottom. After swimming down and inspecting it, I remembered that I had asked a question. I came back up, only to discover Guy looking around worriedly.

"There you are! You must be very youthful indeed if you can hold your breath that long!" Guy exclaimed. He then examined me closely.

"But how do you not know about ninjas? Everyone always sees them around the village." He said, scratching his head confused.

"I didn't know they even existed. I don't really talk to anyone in the orphanage." I answered honestly, doggy-paddling to stay afloat. I saw Guy's eyes soften and a look of understanding cross his face.

"Ah...you are an orphan. How old are you little one?" I pouted slightly as I looked up at him.

"I'm not that little." I muttered under my breath. Guy chuckled good-naturedly, causing me to smile back. I normally wasn't this comfortable with people, but Guy was just so loud yet nice that I couldn't help it.

"I'm three." I smiled, ducking under the water at Guy's shocked face. I swam around for a bit, eventually deciding to ask him why he was so surprised. I knew I was small for a three year old, but it couldn't be that surprising, could it?

I broke the surface of the water only to see Guy sitting on the opposite bank. He was deep in thought, contemplating something. I swam over to where he was, pulling myself into the shore. I wrung the water out of the hem of my shirt the best that I could with my small hands, watching Guy carefully to make sure he was okay. He turned his head towards me so quickly that I fell over. Blushing bright red in embarrassment, I covered my face with my hands until he began speaking.

"What is your name, little lotus blossom?" I looked up at him before answering.

"My name's Kore." I answered, realizing that I hadn't yet introduced myself.

"You see Kore, there are types of youthful people in this world called ninjas..."

After around two hours or so Guy had explained what ninjas, chakra, and all of that stuff was, and I had deduced that I was NOT in my world any longer. I was fairly certain that there were no ninjas in my world. I wasn't _that_ socially awkward or out of touch. There was just one thing I didn't understand though.

"But where did you learn how to be a ninja?" I asked Guy, wondering if he had taught himself.

"Oh! How unyouthful of me! I learned at the Acadamy! If you want to be a ninja, then you may become enrolled in the Acadamy once you turn five years old!" Guy exclaimed, standing up in his "nice guy" pose.

"Do you think my friend and I could attend?" I asked excitedly, jumping to my feet as well.

"Yosh! We will have to ask the Hokage, but if I cannot convince him to let a youthful lotus blossom like you into the Acadamy, then I will do 100 laps around Konoha backwards!" I stared up at Guy blankly, before shaking my head and cheering. "Yeah, let's do this!" I was determined to learn how to walk on water!

"What are you implying when you say that I'm not allowed to attend the Acadamy! You're permitting Naruto to enroll!" I shouted, enraged. The ninjas that were in the Hokage's office for a mission were both amused and impressed. Whenever I got upset I tended to use big words and forget about my anti-socialism. Also, a three year old was yelling large words at the Hokage. It was pretty freakin' hilarious.

"Naruto has both chakra reserves and the potential to become a ninja. You have chakra, but it is, at best, civilian level. I am pleased that you and Naruto are friends, but that does not mean that I can allow you to attend the Acadamy. With only civilian chakra levels, I cannot allow you to enter the Acadamy. My decision is final." Sarutobi said gently but firmly. I stamped my foot angrily.

"Argh!" I screamed, my face contorted in anger. I then screamed again, this time in surprise, as the mug on the Sarutobi's desk exploded. All the ninjas leaped towards the Hokage, checking to make sure he was safe. Naruto gasped and pulled me back, shielding me from the desk.

"I am fine. What caused the mug to explode though?" Sarutobi puzzled, leaning down to inspect some mug shards.

"Sir, it appears that the water exploded outwards from the water. Half of the mug has been pulverized while the water inside seems to have been vaporized." Everyone turned to look at me, even Naruto. I hid behind Naruto, my shyness coming back suddenly.

"U-u-um...I'm s-sorry?" My apology came out more as a question.

"How did you do that?" Sarutobi asked me gently, kneeling down to face me. Naruto moved to the side slightly, enough that the Hokage could meet my eyes, but that I was still shielded by his body in case something else happened. I felt a surge of compassion for Naruto's protective nature before I clammed up at Sarutobi's question.

"I-I don't know. I just g-got really upset." I stuttered, frightened by the strange looks the other ninjas were giving me.

"I guess that's it then." The Hokage got to his feet and sat in his chair, smiling slightly.

"Kore. In order to control your...abilities, I am sending you to the Acadamy." I gasped, my face lighting up in joy.

"I won't let you down sir!" I declared, a grin dominating most of my face.

"I'm sure you won't." Sarutobi said softly, watching me run out the door happily.

(A/N) Sup peoples. I just want to make a few things clear. One, I really am trying to update, but I'm still not used to having a fanfiction so give me some time to adjust, kay? Two, Kore has no idea what anything is, and this chapter was supposed to show that she didn't watch the anime back in her world. Three, I'm going to be doing little one-shots/ short paragraphs in two or three chapters about how Kore meets the rest of Konoha 9, and her relationships with them. And finally, four. I'm not going to be one of those authors that refuses to update unless I get reviews (although it would be a really good excuse), but I get really worried when someone favorites or follows my story and they don't comment on it. It just makes me paranoid that you don't really like my story, since it's my first. Plus, I like the feedback as it helps me to improve my writing. I really like it when you guys answer the questions also, so don't stop! I liked who the reviewers picked as to who they would want to be, and I admit, it never even occurred to me to be Temari or Neji or Zabuza. The Zabuza/Neji one made me laugh. :D Nice reason dude. And Nyphn, your reason was sweet. And I'm soooo not just saying that because you are my first reviewer. Nope. That's not it at all...

(A.) I would totally want to be Hinata, just like Alyce DreamEater (awesome name btw!). Only I'd want to be Hinata so I could totally troll all of the Hyuuga clan. imagine their faces if the shy, sweet little used-to-be-heir started cursing at them and demanding her heiress-ness back! So funny!

(Q.) If you could go anywhere (real or not), and with whoever you wanted (fictional, real, dead), where would you go, and with who?


	5. Chapter 5

(A/N) ...Hi. I swear I did NOT mean to not update for three weeks. I've just had a lot going on. With three games a week and a 12 hour tournament for the past three weeks, plus four to five quizzes and tests in school, I've just been feeling kind of overwhelmed lately. I might have to go on hiatus for a month or two, but the good news is that after the tournament next Saturday, volleyball season is over! No more getting home at almost 8:00 at night and still having another three hours of homework to do (and I'm not joking about how long it takes me to do my homework). I will try to update faster than three weeks next time. Sooo...sorry about the not updating thing. Anyways, enjoy the story. Roll the clip!

Disclaimer: For some reason, Masashi Kishimoto refuses to sell a freshman girl one of the best-selling and most popular manga/animes in the world. I wonder why...

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Chapter 4

"Naruto! Naruto wake up!" I yelled, shaking him as he lay on the bed.

"Whaaaaaat?!" He mumbled, turning his head to look at me blearily.

"We're going to be late! Get up!"

"Ahhh!" He screamed, springing out of bed.

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier!?" He cried as he rushed around our room.

"I tried but I couldn't!" I replied, throwing my Acadamy stuff into a bag. I ran into the kitchen of the apartment Sarutobi had bought for Naruto and me so we didn't have to live in the orphanage while going to the Acadamy. Pulling a chair over, I climbed from the chair to the top of the counter in order to reach a high cabinet. Reaching in, I pulled out two cups of instant ramen. I heated them and set them on the small table in the middle of the kitchen.

"Naruto! If you aren't ready and out here in 10 seconds I'll eat your ramen!" I warned, scarfing mine down in three bites. Slurping the rest of the broth, I hastily wiped my mouth and threw the cup away. Naruto ran into the kitchen at top speed, wearing his orange jumpsuit. I had tried to get him to pick out something less attention-drawing, but he said his favorite color was orange, so I let him be. Besides, I couldn't really say anything about his outfit, seeing how close I came to wearing a bright green spandex suit (Guy's fault).

At five years old, my white-blue hair reached down to my waist because of my refusal to cut it. I didn't want it to be used against me in battle, or get in trouble at the Acadamy, so I braided it back and stuffed it underneath a dark green beanie. The beanie covered all of my hair and matched the capris I wore. A black short-sleeved t-shirt and black boots completed my outfit.

"Come on Kori! I'll race you!" Naruto declared, trying to urge me to get moving. I grinned at the irony before following him out of the apartment. Standing at the front of the apartment, we turned towards the street that would take us to the Acadamy.

"On your mark...get set...GO!" Naruto called, springing forwards to take the lead. I laughed, racing to catch up with him easily. We sped to the Acadamy, making it there in record time. We immediately started looking for our classroom. Finding it, we stood outside of the door. I chewed on the bottom of my lip nervously, hopping from one foot to the other.

"I don't know Naruto...maybe I should just go ba-". Naruto burst through the door of the classroom.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki! And this is Kori Taiyo! I am going to be Hokage someday!" I face palmed, before squeaking and hiding behind Naruto once I realized everyone was staring at us.

"Hello Kori and Naruto. Is there a reason as to why you were almost late?" A voice asked, disgust lacing each of the words. I looked up to see a young woman of about 20, glaring openly at Naruto and I. For some reason, all of the adults in Konoha hated Naruto and, since I was practically his sister, me by default. Sarutobi and some of the ninjas treated us well, but most of the ninjas ignored us or openly despised us. Looking towards the class, I felt a flash of momentary panic when I didn't recognize any of the children's faces.

"You there! Kori was it?" The teacher snapped, causing me to jump and look at her quickly.

"Yes ma'am?" I asked quietly, peeking out from behind Naruto.

"Why were you two almost late?" She asked, speaking slowly as if to a stupid person.

"W-we overslept m-ma'am." I stuttered, my face heating up when I heard snickers from the class.

"That is no excuse. You two will have to stay after school today to make up for time that you both missed and disrupted. Now take your seats." She said, eyeing me coldly. I shrank down a little as I nodded, afraid. Naruto and I turned to the class, only to realize the only two seats left were across the room from each other. Sighing, I took the seat in the front while Naruto headed to the back.

I watched as he sat down between a boy who had a dog on his head and a spikey-haired boy who appeared to be sleeping. Looking to my left, I saw a boy with the collar of his coat turned up and sunglasses. I looked to my right to see a boy with navy hair that stuck up in the back. He gave me a happy smile before turning back to the teacher. I smiled slightly, and then looked down at my open book. Sighing, I laid my head down on my desk as the teacher started talking. I already knew all of this. I had read this stuff when I was three years old in the orphanage. It got very boring very quickly, being a 14 year old in a child's body. Closing my eyes, I fell asleep.

"Dismissed." The teacher called, releasing us for lunch.

"Yes!" I heard Naruto cry, leaping up from his desk and pumping a fist in the air. Shaking my head slightly, I pushed back my chair and gathered my books.

"Hi. You're name's Kore, right?" A friendly voice asked me from the right. I jumped slightly, before turning pink and stuttering.

"Y-yeah. What's your n-name?" I asked, delighted that someone wanted to talk to me, yet frightened out of my mind that I would mess up and they would never talk to me again.

"I'm Sauske Uchiha! Nice to meet you!" Sauske chirped, grinning widely. We walked outside, chatting about almost anything. I was glad that Sauske was a happy kid; it meant I didn't have to try and stumble through a conversation with him, and could just let him talk.

"Kooooooreeeeee!" Naruto screeched, tackling me to the ground.

"What Naruto?" I mumbled my face pressing into the soft dirt.

"You forgot to pack us lunch!" Naruto whined, sitting on my back and drumming his heels into the ground.

"I made breakfast today, so you should have packed lunch." I said, bucking my back upwards in a useless attempt to throw Naruto off.

"You made cup ramen! That's not breakfast!" Naruto protested.

"You're only saying that so you can have an excuse to blame me. If you had made breakfast today you would be going on and on about how ramen is healthy for you and how it makes a wonderful breakfast." I pointed out, laying my cheek on the ground and ceasing my struggles against Naruto.

"You can share my lunch. My mommy always packs me too much." Sauske said cheerfully, crouching down so he could look me in the eye.

"Yay!" Naruto cried, jumping off of me to take the offered food.

"Thanks." I said shyly, taking some of the food he handed me. Sauske plopped down beside Naruto and soon both boys started talking. I sat a bit behind them, throwing little pieces of my food onto the pile in front of Naruto.

"Why don't you eat your own food?" A quiet voice asked me. I looked over to see my other seat neighbor standing behind me. I shrugged.

"I'm not hungry, and I know it won't go to waste because Naruto eats everything." The boy looked at me for a moment, then, seemingly satisfied with my answer, walked away towards a bush. Kneeling down, he started to observe the bugs that were crawling around on it. I watched him for a moment before turning away in time to see Naruto tackle Sauske.

"Teme!" He shouted, rubbing his knuckles onto the top of Sauske's skull. I started to go over to pull him off before I heard Sauske laugh.

"I didn't mean it! I just wanted to see what you'd say!" He pleaded, shrieking with laughter as I walked slowly over.

"Didn't mean what?" I asked curiously, looking down at the two of them.

"Sauske-teme here asked if I liked you because we have the same home." Naruto scowled, thumping Sauske on the head before letting him get up.

"But we are like siblings. Why would you get mad at that?" I questioned, cocking my head slightly to the right. Naruto scowled again.

"Because after I said no he asked if he could like you." Naruto pointed towards Sauske, who smiled and waved at me. I blushed a vivid red, before hearing Sauske say to Naruto

"I was only joking around. You don't have to take it so literally." I grinned as Naruto sat down on the ground and pouted. I had never had an overprotective brother to look out for me before. It was kind of...nice. Suddenly, the bell rang for lunch to be over. I helped Naruto up, doing our secret handshake before turning towards the Acadamy.

"What was that?" Sauske asked, referring to Naruto and I's handshake.

"It's our secret handshake. We can make our own tomorrow if you want." I replied, smiling as he nodded his head eagerly. We ran inside as the second bell rang, ready to face the cruel teacher with a friend now by our side.

* * *

(A/N) So I want to thank _9tailsfox2_ for the advice/encouragement, it really helped me in developing Kori's character. She now is a lot better and complex than she was originally, and that also inspired me to change my plotline a bit. And thanks goes to _Mari_ who told me about Kori's name being spelled wrong, so I went back and changed it. And also, about Sarutobi's weak excuse for not wanting Kori to go to the Acadamy, he was lying about why he didn't want her going to the Acadamy. I'll try to explain that next chapter, in either 3rd person POV or Sarutobi's POV. I promise that there _was _a reason as to why her didn't want her to go, although I will admit that it didn't really occur to me about Sakura's chakra level being lower because she was originally a civilian. Hmm... I'll have to look into that. Please review, I really do love reading them and getting constructive criticism.

(A). If I could go anywhere, I would want to go to DWMA with my best friend Chris (not his real name) because we both LOVE Soul Eater! Best anime ever! Even better than Naruto, because I've seen all of it.

(Q). What is something you obsess/fangirl/fanboy over? It can be a movie, book series, celebrity, anime series, whatever.


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